Denise Foster took the reins at Gordon Elliott’s Cullentra House Stables on Monday following the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s (IHRB) decision to suspend the Grand National-winning trainer for six months.

Foster, nicknamed Sneezy, trains just outside Enfield, Co Meath, not far from Elliott’s base near Longwood. A popular figure, she trains both flat and jumps horses and has sent out 10 winners in the last five seasons.

Before taking up her interim role, she said: “I am honoured to take over from Gordon and realise he is a hard act to follow.

“I am delighted by the contacts I have had with the owners and staff to date. This is a great responsibility but I could not ask for a better set-up.”

Elliott was banned from training for 12 months last Friday, with the last six months suspended, following an IHRB referrals hearing into an image posted on social media the previous weekend of the trainer sitting on a dead horse.

A statement from Elliott on Saturday evening said that Foster will be in charge of making entries and all other operations. He added that it is hoped that all staff will be kept on at Cullentra.

Foster is an experienced horse woman who has trained racehorses since 1998 when she took over from her husband, David Foster, a three-time Olympian, following his death in a riding accident.

Foster will move her existing string from Enfield – around 8km away – to Cullentra for the duration of her work in Elliott’s yard.

£100,000 Cheltenham bonus.

Trainer Emmet Mullins and owner Paul Byrne are eyeing up a £100,000 bonus at the Cheltenham Festival after The Shunter took the bet365 Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso on Saturday.

The eight-year-old, ridden by Alain Cawley, was game in the finish of the competitive handicap hurdle to see off Night Edition and Faivoir, triggering the first leg of the lucrative bonus put up by the Scottish course and sponsors bet365 for the first time this season.

The Shunter has five options at the Festival, both over hurdles and fences.

He won the Greatwood Hurdle at the course already this season meaning he has earned £92,000 already this term.

Mullins, speaking from Navan, where he had trained another winner on the day, said: “It’s brilliant for Paul as he’s put plenty of money into it. Anything we’ve asked The Shunter to do, he keeps coming up trumps for us. He’s a real star. Fingers crossed he’ll go to Cheltenham now. There is a huge bonus and it’s great to have a chance at it.”